What is Essential for Living?
A comprehensive life skills curriculum and assessment designed for children and adults with moderate-to-severe disabilities, including but not limited to autism — referenced to quality of life, rather than typical development or academic standards.
Watch Dr. Patrick McGreevy walk through Essential for Living from A to Z
Why EFL?
The Problem
Many children with autism and other disabilities encounter barriers to acquiring language, pre-academic, and academic skills. Developmental assessments designed for young children who might "catch up" are often not appropriate. These children are exposed to academic lessons with limited pragmatic value while critical life skills go untaught.
The EFL Solution
EFL provides a functional, life skills curriculum with over 3,100 skills sequenced from must-have to should-have to good-to-have to nice-to-have — referenced against safe, effective, and high-quality participation in family, school, and community living.
What Makes EFL Unique
Based on Skinner's Analysis
The only life skills curriculum based on B. F. Skinner's analysis of language as a speaker and a listener (verbal behavior), addressing private events — thoughts, feelings, and sensations.
Communication First
Emphasizes pragmatic language skills and helps users determine when an alternative method of speaking is needed, how to select one that meets the CAFE criteria, and is likely to last a lifetime.
Measures Real Progress
The only curriculum that measures small increments of progress — from problem behavior to prompts to fluency to generalization — each indicating a real quality-of-life improvement.
For All Severity Levels
The only curriculum with skills specifically for children and adults with severe, multiple disabilities, medically fragile conditions, or severe aggressive and self-injurious behavior.
Concrete & Functional
Emphasizes interactions and discriminations in concrete situations where learners can perform skills fluently — often beyond typical performance levels. Function always outweighs form.
Social Validity
Skills have social validity — they are required in frequently occurring, everyday situations. Teaching procedures are evidence-based, and outcomes include fluency and generalization.
The Essential Eight
The must-have skills — sequenced first within EFL — that are necessary for safe, effective participation in family, school, and community living.
Making Requests
Requesting access to highly preferred items and activities, and requesting the removal or reduction in intensity of specific situations.
Waiting After Making Requests
Learning to wait appropriately after making a request, a foundational skill for daily interactions.
Accepting Removals
Accepting the removal of preferred items and activities, making transitions, sharing, and taking turns.
Completing Brief Tasks
Completing brief, previously acquired tasks when asked to do so — building cooperative routines.
Accepting "No"
Learning to accept being told 'no' without engaging in problem behavior.
Following Health & Safety Directions
Following directions related to health and safety — critical for community participation.
Completing Daily Living Skills
Completing daily living skills related to health and safety, building independence in self-care routines.
Tolerating Health & Safety Situations
Tolerating situations related to health and safety such as medical visits, haircuts, and dental exams.
Who Is EFL For?
Practitioners & BCBAs
Build functional programs, write meaningful IEPs, and track real progress with evidence-based procedures.
Educators & Schools
Used in public schools, private centers, day activity programs, vocational settings, and residential facilities.
Parents & Families
Understand the skills that matter most for your child's independence, safety, and quality of life.
Download the Overview
The full EFL overview is available as a downloadable PDF in several languages.
Ready to Begin?
Start your journey with Essential for Living today.